Rejection hurts: The effect of being dumped on subsequent mating efforts

Many of the qualities that people seek in a long-term partner are not directly observable. As a consequence, information gathered through social learning may be important in partner assessment. Here, we tested the hypothesis that finding out potential partners were rejected by their last partner would negatively affect participants' desire to pursue a romantic relationship with them. Results support this hypothesis, and this effect was, as predicted, greater when the target was being evaluated for a potential long-term relationship compared to a sexual relationship. In a more exploratory vein, we tested the effect of the target having rejected their last partner and failing to disclose how their last relationship ended. These scenarios produced intriguing sex differences, such that men's ratings of women fell after learning she had rejected her last partner, but women's ratings of men increased after the same information was introduced. Failing to disclose information about a past relationship was unappealing to both men and women, though particularly so for women.     

The 90's: gender differences in AIDS-related sexual concerns and behaviors,condom use and subjective condom experiences

To evaluate gender differences in the subjective experience and use of condoms, 193 heterosexual patrons at 13 bars in New York City were interviewed on site in 1991. Most respondents were single, middle class, and White; their ages ranged from 18 to 51 years. The data analysis was restricted to the 155 men and women who had at least 1 new partner in the 3 years preceding the survey. Respondents worried most about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) when engaging in sex with a new partner. 86% indicated concern about AIDS had affected their sexual behavior, most often by increasing their condom use and decreasing casual sex. 91% of women and 79% of men said that condoms give them greater peace of mind. Women worried more than men about AIDS when they had a new sexual partner and were more likely to limit their number of partners, work harder on an existing sexual relationship, give up casual sex, or give up sex with new partners. Men's subjective condom experiences were related to their penile functioning (erection and ejaculation) and the threat of loss of sexual pleasure. Multiple regression equations revealed that, among men, condom use with new partners was associated with worrying about AIDS and younger age; among women, peace of mind was a positive predictor. With casual partners, more partners led to increased condom use among women and worrying about AIDS was a predictor for men; peace of mind was predictive for both genders. 53% of men compared to 21% of women expected to meet a new sexual partner at the bar where they were interviewed, and 36% of men and 19% of women were carrying condoms with them.     

Sexual desire,not hypersexuality,predicts self-regulation of sexual arousal

A person's ability to control their own sexual arousal is important both to reduce the risks associated with some sexual behaviours and to respond sexually with intimate partners. A lack of control over sexual urges is a proposed feature of “hypersexual disorder”, though some evidence suggests that sexual desire predicts the self-regulation of sexual arousal better than hypersexuality. In the current study, a sample (N = 116) of men and women recruited from community ads viewed a series of 20-second neutral and sexual films. Before each sexual film, participants were instructed to increase their sexual arousal, decrease their sexual arousal or respond as usual. Higher levels of desire for sex with a partner consistently predicted failures to downregulate sexual arousal. Hypersexuality was unrelated. These findings replicate Winters et al.'s study and extend their findings by including upregulation, women, a new measure of hypersexuality and a higher-trial design.     

Of lust and love: Beliefs about the role of sexual desire in romantic relationships

Little is known about the beliefs that men and women have about the role of sexual desire in romantic relationships, despite the interpersonal and individual significance of those beliefs. Three experiments conducted with students from a university in the midwestern United States examined both the perceived consequences of sexual desire for romantic relationships and beliefs about the association between sexual desire and romantic love. Men and women believed that dating partners who desire each other sexually are more likely to experience romantic love and other “positive” interpersonal events and less likely to experience “negative” events than partners who do not desire each other sexually, regardless of their level of sexual activity (Experiment 1). Similarly, partners who are romantically in love were viewed as more likely to desire each other than were partners who love or who like one another, and desire was perceived as equally likely to occur in loving and liking relationships; that is, sexual desire did not differentiate these two affective syndromes (Experiment 2). In couples with a mismatched sexual desire pattern, the high-desire partner was perceived as more likely than the sexually uninterested partner to be in love, satisfied, committed, happy, and jealous, whereas the low-desire partner was viewed as more likely to terminate the relationship and to be unfaithful (Experiment 3). These results suggest that sexual desire is viewed as an important feature of romantic love, and that its presence or absence in a dating relationship is believed to have implications for the emotional tenor and interpersonal dynamics of that relationship.     

When Do Motives to Sexually Please a Male Partner Benefit Women’s Own Sexual Agency?

Motivation to please a partner sexually, also known as sexual communal strength (SCS), has been positively associated with sexual and relationship functioning, particularly for partners. We used a critical sexuality studies approach to examine SCS as it relates to women’s own sexual agency. We also examined the potential moderating role of partner sexual coercion, defined as persistent pressure to attain sex. Specifically, we investigated whether frequency of partner sexual coercion moderates the effect of SCS on three different aspects of women’s sexual agency: sexual desire, sexual refusal assertiveness, and relational power. Participants were 172 U.S. women in dating relationships with men who responded to self-report measures. Results showed that SCS was positively related to women’s own sexual desire, regardless of how often women experienced partner sexual coercion. SCS and partner sexual coercion frequency were associated with sexual refusal assertiveness: The least assertive women reported both higher SCS and more frequent partner coercion. Sexual coercion frequency was negatively related to women’s relational power, regardless of their own SCS. These findings support educational and clinical interventions to reduce sexual coercion and suggest the concept of SCS be further refined to better account for the potential roles sexual coercion and heterosexual norms play more broadly.

     

When does responsiveness pique sexual interest? Attachment and sexual desire in initial acquaintanceships

Three studies examined the contribution of attachment orientation and perceived partner responsiveness to sexual desire in initial acquaintanceships. In all studies, participants discussed a recent negative event with an unfamiliar, opposite-sex partner and then rated how responsive this partner had been during the interaction and their desire to have sex with him or her. Study 1 examined the association between perceived partner responsiveness and sexual desire in randomly paired strangers. Studies 2 and 3 experimentally manipulated partner responsiveness by standardized Instant Messages (Study 2) and a confederate's responsive or unresponsive reactions during face-to-face interviews (Study 3). Results indicated that perceiving a partner as responsive was associated with heightened interest in sex with this partner, primarily among less avoidant people. These results are consistent with research showing that secure individuals see sex as a means of becoming close to relationship partners, whereas avoidant individuals tend to approach sex in distancing ways.     

“Bad Girls” Say No and “Good Girls” Say Yes: Sexual Subjectivity and Participation in Undesired Sex During Heterosexual College Hookups

Young people’s sexuality is often discursively constructed within the confines of a masculine/feminine binary that minimizes young women’s sexual subjectivity (i.e., desire, pleasure, and agency) while taking young men’s subjectivity for granted. Accordingly, young women who acknowledge themselves as sexual subjects are constructed as “bad girls” who incite males’ purportedly uncontrollable desire and, thus, invite undesired sexual attention. However, there is reason to hypothesize that young women who view themselves as sexual subjects may be less likely than other women to engage in undesired sexual activity (i.e., sex that their partners desire, but they do not desire for themselves). In this study, I used data from the Online College Social Life Survey (N = 7255) to explore relationships between two measures of sexual subjectivity (i.e., pleasure prioritization and sexual agency) and college women’s participation in undesired sexual activity during hookups (i.e., performance of undesired sexual acts to please a partner and succumbing to verbal pressure for intercourse). Logistic regression analyses suggest that pleasure prioritization and sexual agency are associated with lower odds of performing undesired sexual acts to please a partner—and sexual agency is associated with lower odds of succumbing to verbal pressure for intercourse. These findings point to the importance of sexuality education that includes discussions of women’s sexual subjectivity.     

Characteristics of men who have sex with men on the internet but identify as heterosexual, compared with heterosexually identified men who have sex with women.

We compared men who have sex with other men on the Internet with the remainder of the sample of men who reported only sex with women on the Internet, in a sample of 1,846 Swedish men recruited from a major Swedish portal. We report on the self-identified heterosexual men in the sample who reported engaging in cybersex in the past year, and for whom there was complete data on sexual identity and the gender of cybersexual partners. Of the 244 cases with full data, 76% were heterosexual in both identity and behavior, 16% were gay or bisexual in identity and reported both male and female cybersexual contacts on the Internet, and 8% indicated their sexual preference was heterosexual but also reported at least one male sexual partner on the Internet. Thus, 11% of self-identified heterosexual men had sex with other men online. Comparing the two groups, the men who had sex with men (MSM) who did not identify (MSM-NI) spent significantly more time per week online, although a similar amount of time on sexual pursuits, as the heterosexual men. The MSM-NI were significantly more likely to agree that their online sexuality had affected their sexuality in a positive way, to have bought sex from prostitutes, to agree that they do things online that they would not do offline, have cybersex more often, use a web-camera and microphone more often, flirt and visit contact sites more often, and agree more often that sexual thoughts and behaviors are causing problems, desire to have sex creates problems, and sometimes fail to meet commitments due to their sexual behavior. These data taken together suggest that MSM-NI online are not uncommon and are characterized by the extent of their cybersexual involvement that sometimes extends to other men. Such men may rationalize this cybersex with other men as not, or minimally, sexual in much the same way as Humphreys characterized MSMs in public restrooms.     

Hypoactive Sexual Desire in Heterosexual Women:

The problem of hypoactive sexual desire is the most common sexual problem that heterosexual couples and individuals present to sex therapists. Often it is a woman who reports that she has the problem, or her male partner brings her to therapy believing she has hypoactive desire. The treatment literature describes a variety of causes that contribute to the disorders of sexual desire. However, most of the literature looks primarily at the causes within an individual's history of within a couple's relationship. There does not seem to be adequate consideration given to the social and cultural limitations that have defined and prescribed a sexual role for women that is primarily oriented to the service of male needs rather than female sexual pleasure. This article will analyze some of the social and cultural forces that limit female sexual expression, and are a neglected factor when causes for low sexual desire in heterosexual women are given.     

Maintaining sexual desire in intimate relationships: the importance of approach goals

Three studies tested whether adopting strong (relative to weak) approach goals in relationships (i.e., goals focused on the pursuit of positive experiences in one's relationship such as fun, growth, and development) predict greater sexual desire. Study 1 was a 6-month longitudinal study with biweekly assessments of sexual desire. Studies 2 and 3 were 2-week daily experience studies with daily assessments of sexual desire. Results showed that approach relationship goals buffered against declines in sexual desire over time and predicted elevated sexual desire during daily sexual interactions. Approach sexual goals mediated the association between approach relationship goals and daily sexual desire. Individuals with strong approach goals experienced even greater desire on days with positive relationship events and experienced less of a decrease in desire on days with negative relationships events than individuals who were low in approach goals. In two of the three studies, the association between approach relationship goals and sexual desire was stronger for women than for men. Implications of these findings for maintaining sexual desire in long-term relationships are discussed.     

Gender differences in beliefs about the causes of male and female sexual desire

Little is known about the beliefs men and women have about the causes of sexual desire, despite the interpersonal and individual significance of those beliefs. Participants in this study received a definition of sexual desire and answered a set of free-response questions exploring their beliefs about the causal antecedents of male and female sexual desire. The results indicated that more women than men view female (and male) sexual desire as caused by external factors. In addition, both men and women believe that male and female sexual desire have different causes: intraindividual and erotic environmental factors are believed to cause male sexual desire, but interpersonal and romantic environmental factors are believed to cause female sexual desire. Although both men and women view physical attractiveness and overall personality as sexually desirable male and female characteristics, women, but not men, view femininity as a sexually desirable female characteristic, and men, but not women, view social and financial power or status as a sexually desirable male attribute.     

On the Association of Sex and Violence In the Fantasy Production of College Students*

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates whether there is an association between sexual imagery and violent imagery in stories produced in response to ambiguous Thematic Apperception Test stimuli. In addition, two commonsense assumptions about sex and violence are examined: (a) do men have more sexual imagery than women? and (b) assuming men are more aggressive than women, do they produce fantasies with more violent themes? Thematic Apperception Test protocols administered to 80 college students as part of a study conducted at Syracuse University in the late 1950s were examined using two scoring systems—one for sexual imagery and one for violent imagery. An association between sex and violence was found for men only. The conventional wisdom that all men ever think about is sex was undermined by the finding that men and women do not differ in the production of sexual imagery. In terms of production of violent imagery, men and women also do not differ. The fact that females are less aggressive than men in overt behavior may be a function of social and cultural forces which operate differentially on men and women.     

Impact of combination therapies on HIV risk perceptions and sexual risk among HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay and bisexual men.

The availability of improved HIV treatments may prompt reduced concern about HIV and sexual risk. Gay and bisexual men (N = 554, 17% HIV-positive) completed measures of treatment attitudes, sexual risk, and assumptions regarding the infectiousness of sexual partners. A substantial minority reported reduced HIV concern related to treatment advances. Reduced HIV concern was an independent predictor of sexual risk, particularly among HIV-positive men. In response to hypothetical scenarios describing sex with an HIV-positive partner, participants rated the risk of unprotected sex to be lower if the partner was taking combination treatments and had an undetectable viral load, relative to scenarios with a seropositive partner not taking combination treatments. Prevention efforts must address attitudinal shifts prompted by recent treatment successes, stressing the continued importance of safer sex, and that an undetectable viral load does not eliminate infection risks.     

Factors predicting the probability of initiating sexual intercourse by context and sex

Despite men initiating sex more than women there is considerable variance within the sexes. This study is the first to consider the impact of multiple predictors from the literature, and investigates how factors, such as relationship length, sociosexuality, and different aspects of self‐perceived mate value among others, independently and interactively predict initiation of sexual intercourse in both short‐term sexual and long‐term romantic mating contexts, testing predictions from Sexual strategies theory. For long‐term relationships, positive partner bond increased initiative to sexual intercourse for women. For men, self‐perceived independence increased probability of taking the initiative, while relationship attachment decreased probability. For short‐term relations, the desire component of the sociosexual orientation inventory increased probability of initiation for both sexes, while male initiative was increased by pleasure reasons for sex. The impact of individual predictors on initiating intercourse is influenced by being included in a multidimensional model, and relationship context affects the impact of the predictors.     

Attachment,sexual experience,and sexual pressure in romantic relationships: A dyadic approach

The goal of this research was to extend the previously documented associations between attachment style and sexual experiences in samples of adolescents and college students to adult couples in committed romantic relationships. A sample of 273 French‐Canadian heterosexual couples aged 18–35 years completed measures of attachment‐related anxiety and avoidance, sexual coercion, and sexual experiences in their relationships. Avoidant attachment was related to two strategies for limiting intimacy in sexual relationships: avoidance of sexual encounters and avoidance of sexual fantasies about one’s partner (the latter for women only). Anxious attachment appeared to interfere with comfortable intimacy, especially among men, who viewed their partner as avoiding sex and who applied more insistent pressure to have sex.     

“I’m not a lesbian; I’m just a freak”: A Pilot Study of the Experiences of Women in Assumed-Monogamous Other-Sex Unions Seeking Secret Same-Sex Encounters Online,their Negotiation of Sexual Desire,and Meaning-Making of Sexual Identity

This pilot study looked to examine the experiences of women who are “undercover,” the meaning-making of their sexual identity, how they came to negotiate their same-sex sexual desires alongside their primary other-sex unions, and their experience of a secret, compartmentalized life. The study sought to understand their experiences as well as their meaning-making in the course of maintaining a public heterosexual persona while balancing their secret desire for sex with women. The thirty-four women in this study report lifelong incidence of attraction to and encounters with other women as well as men. They are not transitioning toward a lesbian identity nor experiencing fluidity; rather, clandestine encounters are part of an ongoing means to negotiate their opposite-sex marriages. For them, our culture’s limited notions of sexual identity are less than useful. It was important to their self-concept that their sexuality be understood in terms of its intensity and their desire for frequency and diversity of acts. They defined themselves on their own terms and by their sexual personalities and inclination toward what they considered “hypersexuality” or “freakiness.” Despite conventional ideas that women are emotionally driven in their extra-relational affairs and need to “fall in love” to participate in extra-relational sexual activity, all of the women were clear in their desire to limit their association with their same-sex partners to sexual encounters only.     

Sexual dysfunction in women sexually abused as children

Women who were sexually victimized as children report problems in relating to both men and women. Studies have found that victims are less satisfied with their current sexual relationships and with the quality of their relationships with men in general. Fear of sex, arousal dysfunction and desire dysfunction were the most common sexual disturbances found in incest victims.The purpose of this paper was to examine the differences in sexual functioning in abused women who perceived themselves to be adjusted to the trauma of their sexual abuse and those who did not.A sample of 57 nonclinical adult women who had been sexually abused as children was studied. Data were analyzed by means of cross-tabulation, chi square statistics, analysis of variance, and multiple regression.Orgasm was experienced by 63% of the women. There was a significant interaction among ability to be an orgasmic, sexual esteem and adjustment to abuse. Over 56% of the women experienced physical discomfort during intercourse and 36% indicated that they needed sex therapy. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.